LAURA MERCIER – Flawless Contouring Palette

23rd July 2015

THIS PALETTE! Aaaaah YES! I was so excited to be sent this beautiful Laura Mercier Cream contour palette. Firstly because I have a MASSIVE contour post scheduled comparing ALL of the most popular contour kits, Secondly because I’ve heard nothing but great things about this thing! Below I have step by step how I use it, swatches and my thoughts.

WHAT IS IT? This is a cream contour and highlight palette. In the palette is 3 contouring shades a 2 highlight shades. This palette is expected the be in store at David jones Laura Mercier counters on September 6th for $69. I’ve heard really great reviews about this. first thing this is WAY different to the Anastasia Beverly hills cream contour palette. They aren’t even comparable. if you are interested in the comparison you will see it in my upcoming contouring post.

FIRST IMPRESSION – These are CREAMY so I already know they will blend easily but Im feeling like they won’t have that full on staying power. they are buttery creamy, which I like, it means you don’t have to be expertly exact with the product because you can easily work it to where you want it. It also looks like they won’t have a full matte finish but nearly matte (demi matte is the word i think), there is absolutely no shimmer and these are completely cool toned which is PERFECT (that means no orange). the contour colours are spot on, Laura Mercier has done an amazing job with this. Right away I can see that nearly every skin type could get use from this. Medium skin tones will be able to use every colour. Lighter skin tones can definitely use contour #1 and highlight #1. Medium skin tones like me can use Contour #1 to bronze, Contour Medium #2 to depend the contour and even Contour Deep 3 just near the other parts of the cheek bones to really define. And both Highlights will be great for medium skin to. For Darker skin the Deep Contour shade will work great for you and highlight #2 will be the highlight I think you’ll reach for more. Highlight #1 is a light white gold highlight its not very intense. It’s not overly shimmery, i think its great for very pale skin, people who want a natural dewy look, a base for a powder contour or for mature skin. I say mature skin because I know my mum (who has great skin) she was worried about looking shimmery, so this would be really nice for her. Highlight 2 is a bronze colour, also not very intense. Today I mixed them both together.

The lid of the palette has a little mirror which is always handy but then behind it is 4 instruction cards which is so helpful. they explain how and what to do with the product.

These are a great idea, so useful but also handy as they just slide back behind the mirror completely out-of-the-way.

Now I’m going to show you how I used the palette for the first time!

So yaw here I am the first thing in the morning with no makeup (except the left over eyeliner in the top part of my eyelids that i was too lazy to wash away last night) and my fuzzy baby hairs. ok be nice I’m only normal, patchy skin and dark circles D:

So after that scary little selfie, I’ve washed my face today with this new Biore cleanser, it’s really great, foams up heaps, leaves a cooling sensation and takes away all left over makeup, then as i don’t have to many break outs I’ve used this simple toner from Neutrogena, Lastly I’ve chosen a mattifying moisturiser, this one is GREAT for oily skin! I’ve gone with this one today as I’m using a cc cream which is quite dewy and I want it to stay put a little longer so a ratifying moisturiser can help with that.

For my base I’ve gone with something that can even out my skin tone but thats not to full coverage. This is the It Cosmetics Your Skin but better CC cream, it’s SO nice, its got an anti hanging serum in it and SPF 50+ they recommend reapplying every 2 hours but I don’t have the time for that which is why i used the mattifying moisturiser. Next over the top I’ve got my LA Girl Pro conceal, this is a perfect match, great coverage but that nice natural dewy finish.

As always with my base products I’ve roughly patted the cc cream into my skin and then gone over with a DAMP beauty blender. The beauty blender is an amazing tool, it basically air brushes your skin evening out the product and making sure nothing is looking cake. Then I just chuck some concealer under my eyes, under my cheek bones, roughly above and between, my chin and a little above my lip. I pat that out briefly with my ring finger and then using the pointed part of the beauty blender in blend that in (if you want to no more about beauty sponges and which is best and cheaper alternatives and how to use them let me no!)

This is my “I look like an idiot and have cc cream all over my lips yay” face. haha. But hey this is how I place it and then how it looks after being blended out

I’ve also Done my Brows in the pic on the right, just minimal and quickly using of course my Anastasia Brow wiz.

Using the Real Techniques Expert Face brush (because its dense but great for buffing and has that over shape so great for cream contouring) I pick up some of Contour #1 and roughly place iton the out sides of my face, mainly the cheek bone (not going any further than about a 1/3 of the way to your mouth from your ear) under my jaw line (because my face is fat i put it from under my ear half way along to my chin) then the sides of my temple and a little on the sides of my forehead. Then i didn’t buff it out. Small circular motions moving the product slowly closer to my mouth (only about !/2 way between my ear and my moth no closer) and buffing up a little (never buff down it will drop your cheek bones down). then doing the same for my jaw line and my temples and forehead. As you can see from the middle pic to the pic on the end I’ve gone from pale and flat to bronzed and a little more defined.

Now Using this little Real Techniques Eye Shadow Brush (any small sort of dense fluffy brush will do) Ive got some of Contour shade Medium #2 and just placed it under my lip, the same place near my ear on my jaw line, where the hollow of my cheek bone should be and on my temples. Using that little Brush I gently buff it out, and then only slightly go over it using that First real techniques Expert face brush to make sure there are no harsh lines. I don’t contour my nose, if you would like to the Kit has instructions on how to. using my ring finger I’ve mixed both highlight shades together and tapped that above my cheek bones, above my eye brows, a tiny bit down the centre on my nose and some ono my cupids bow above my to lip.

This is how it looks. Very Natural and subtle. Usually I would have set my underage concealer with powder straight away and then at the end have gone over with powder contour, but for the sake of wanting to show how this worked alone I haven’t. Now I just setting it all with Laura Mercier Translucent powder. This is the brush I use when using powder highlight etc I usually use it to buff everything out, today I’ve used it to stipple and pat the translucent powder over my face to set the area contour down but now change the colour at all.

And I’ve just finished threat of my makeup!Ive gone over the highlight with Laura Mercier Indiscretion Highlighter (it’s so pretty)

I didn’t do any powder bronzer or contour because I wanted the pics to show how the cream contour looks alone. I would use this alone for like a summer day outside with a cream blush and cc cream where I didn’t need to worry about it getting wet swimming or sweating of etc because it think it would fade nicely and naturally and you wouldn’t have to be concerned about your makeup. The minting I would use this for would be under my powder contour for when I’m going out, it creates such a beautiful base!

I hope this was helpful, I would buy this in a heart beat! Mainly for the contour shades, I’m not to fussed on the highlight shades, but the contour shades are that nice that id pay the price for the whole palette even if I didn’t use the highlighters. Really easy to use! I’m not a makeup artist, I haven’t had any training I just play around and see what works for me, You don’t have to be trained to wear makeup, but practice so helps! Def Check this out!

I actually haven’t heard that much about this but it does look really great. I love that they’ve blended out to look so natural!

Tasha //

Ooooh this palette looks amazing. I like the fact that it’s not completely matte. Sometimes a complete matte contour cream can make my face look really flat and then I need to add more products over top to combat that. Are the pans in the palette a good size?

I am so excited I got my hands on this!! I cant wait for it to arrive!! The only other contour palette I have is the crappy Australis one! I normally use my RCMA foundation palette! I can’t wait for your contour palette post too!

Mel x |

I actually really like that it is subtle. As someone with pale skin I get so sick of contouring palettes being way too dark for my skin, even when they’re targeted for pale skin. This one looks awesome.